Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Happy Hanukkah

The eight-day Jewish celebration began at sundown today. Typically engulfed by its outsized younger sibling, Christmas, most folks don't know much about Hanukkah besides dradles and menorahs. So here's the holiday's history.

2 comments:

The holiday in some ways represents the violent early history of ethno-religious groups trying to maintain coherence.

I'm just glad few people celebrate the Rig Veda in a similar way, where killing of "the barbarians" was just as tribally acceptable as killing Hellenist conspirators. Or the Poetic Eddas for that matter.

My point being that we should take history very seriously and ask ourselves whether we really want to convert cruelty into ritual, whether we are talking the sins Conquistadoras converting the heathen at the point of the sword, Vikings or proto-Indoeuropeans slaughtering anyone in their path, or Middle Easterners told by their God that all their enemies will die (Exodus...whatever)

About the author

is the editor for the Tracy Press, an award-winning newspaper columnist and has been a staple of the Voice section since February 2006. This is his space for random thoughts, cheap shots, and bon mots.